Number 8
by AlexzandriaMalfoy
Summary: On the twelfth hour of the first day of October 1989, 43 women around the world gave birth. This was unusual only in the fact that none of the women had been pregnant when the day began. Sir Reginald Hargreeves, eccentric billionaire and adventurer, resolved to locate and adopt as many of the children as possible. He got eight.
1. Chapter 1

"How will the Umbrella Academy ever become an effective crime deterrent if we can't even leave the house on time for missions. Come along children!" Reginald said, passing by the boy's room. "Hurry up, Eight."

"Sorry, Dad." young Barry replied.

"How you always manage to be so slow will always be a mystery." Allison commented.

"Shut up." Barry said.

"Hurry up, Barry." Grace said in a much softer tone than Reginald had. Barry gave her a sheepish smile.

"I am, Mom." he said.

Barry stared up at his childhood home, even if it wasn't really home anymore. A sigh escaped his lips, and he walked up the sidewalk. He pushed the door open.

"Hello?" he called.

"Good to see you again, Mr. Barry."

Barry turned his head towards the voice, giving the chimpanzee a smile. "Pogo, hey." he said. "Is anyone else here yet?"

"I'm afraid not." Pogo answered. "But then again, I'm sure you expected that."

"I wasn't sure." Barry answered. "I do tend to be late, a lot."

"That you do." Pogo said. Barry nodded.

"I'm going to head up to my room, if that's okay? It was a long run."

"It's the same as you left it." Pogo said.

Upstairs, Barry glanced around his old bedroom. Like Pogo said, it was untouched. It looked like Grace had kept it dust-free though. He slowly sat on his bed, and grabbed a small toy off of the stand next to his bed. It was a wooden figure he'd made as a kid. A panda. It was something to do those late nights he couldn't sleep(there were a lot of them). He had picked up the chunk of wood in the yard one day.

A smile formed on his lips as he turned it in his hands. He had forgotten it when he moved out, and assumed Grace found it and put it there for him. It wasn't the first time he'd dropped the thing, and it always showed back up in his room.

"Number Eight is on time for the first time ever." Diego said. Barry looked up.

"Yeah. Hey to you, too, Diego." Barry stated sarcastically. He set down the wood figure and stood up. "I considered not even coming."

"Didn't we all?" Diego asked.

"Hear from anyone else?" Barry asked.

"Of course not." Diego stated. "Luther's in space, Allison in LA. Pretty sure Klaus is in rehab. Again."

Barry nodded. "How've you been, man?" he asked.

"Same old, same old." was Diego's reply. "I'm going to go dig around in the kitchen. You coming with, speedster?"

"Got nothin' better to do." Barry replied with a shrug.

It was over an hour before Allison arrived at the house. She greeted both of her brothers with a hug.

The next to arrive was Vanya, Number Seven. She had exposed the family secret in her autobiography. Barry had never read it, because he had been too mad at her. The book had tore apart a relationship he had been in, which was something he had a hard time letting go of.

"What is she doing here?" Diego asked as he and Barry entered into the hallway. "You don't belong here. Not after what you did."

"Come on, man." Barry said. "Don't do this."

"You're seriously going to do this today?" Allison asked. Diego didn't respond as he went upstairs. "Way to dress for the occasion, by the way."

"At least I'm wearing black." Diego said. Barry glanced down at his outfit, which was a pair of dark colored jeans and a dark blue sweater, what he had been wearing when he got the call at work.

"You know what? Maybe he's right." Vanya said. "And I shouldn't-"

"Forget about him." Allison said. "I'm glad you're here."

Barry gave a half smile to Vanya, attempting to not let his anger towards her show. This wasn't the time for that.

He could easily feel a headache forming already. He loved his siblings, but they could be highly annoying most of the time. It wasn't long before he went back to his room to hide out for a while, even if that didn't last too long.

"Heey, bro." Klaus said. Barry looked up with a small groan.

"I can't get ten minutes alone in this house, can I?" Barry asked.

"No, you really can't." Klaus stated, and laid on Barry's bed. Barry sighed heavily and rubbed his temples. "Oh, how I missed you."

"You're really high, aren't you?" Barry asked.

"Possibly." Klaus answered. Barry narrowed his eyes.

"Are you wearing a skirt?"

"Absolutely."

"Good God, Klaus."

Klaus chuckled, then suddenly sat up. "I think I'm going to get a drink." he announced. "Come with me, speedster."

"Will everyone stop calling me speedster?" Barry complained as Klaus dragged him to his feet.

"Definitely not." was the response. "Come on, buddy, lighten up. Have a drink."

"Alcohol doesn't affect me." Barry said.

"How do you live?" Klaus asked.

"Uh...soberly." Barry answered.

"Sounds...depressing." Klaus said. "What about drugs?"

"I hope you realize that I work for the police?" Barry asked.

"Right, right." Klaus said. "I won't tell."

"Oh, my God, Klaus!" Barry exclaimed. "Just...ugh! Shut up, will you?"

"Fine. Fine." Klaus said. "It's your loss."

"I really don't think I'm losing out." Barry said, clapping his brother's shoulder. "Sorry, man."

"You won't know unless you try it." Klaus said in a sing song voice.

"Yeah, thanks, but no thanks." Barry said.

"Klaus, stop offering your drugs to the cop." Diego said.

"CSI." Barry corrected with an eye roll. "Get it right if you're gonna bother."

"Where is the fun in that?" Diego asked, and Klaus made a beeline for the liquor cabinet. Barry sat down on the opposite end of the couch from Vanya, making himself comfortable.

"Um...I guess we should get this started." Luther said, and stood up. "So, I figured we could have a sort of memorial service in the courtyard at sundown. Say a few words, just at Dad's favorite spot."

"Dad had a favorite spot?" Allison asked.

"Yeah, you know, under the oak tree." Luther answered. "We used to sit out there all the time. None of you ever did that?"

"Will there be refreshments? Tea? Scones? Cucumber sandwiches are always a winner." Klaus said. Barry made a face as the smell of smoke from Klaus's cigarette hit his nose.

"What? No." Luther said. "And put that out. Dad didn't allow smoking in here."

"Is that my skirt?" Allison asked in disbelief.

"What?" Klaus asked. "Oh, yeah. I found it in your room. It's a little dated, I know, but it's very breathy on the bits." Barry buried his face into his hands.

"God, you guys stress me out so much." he complained.

"Listen up." Luther said. "Still some important things that we need to discuss, alright?"

"Like what?" Diego asked. Klaus sat down between Barry and Vanya on the couch.

"Like the way he died." Luther said.

"And here we go." Diego said.

"I don't understand." Vanya said. "I thought they said it was a heart attack."

"Yeah, according to the coroner." Luther said.

"Well, wouldn't they know?" Vanya asked.

"They would." Barry said, but his voice was drowned out by Luther's.

"Theoretically." he said.

"Theoretically?"

"Look, I'm just saying, at the very least, something happened." Luther stated. "The last time that I talked to Dad, he sounded strange."

"Oh, quelle surprise!" Klaus said while gurgling his drink. Barry made a face at his brother's action.

"Strange how?" Allison asked.

"He sounded on edge." Luther answered. "Told me I should be careful who to trust."

"Luther, he was a paranoid, bitter old man who was starting to lose what was left of his marbles." Diego stood up and said.

"No." Luther denied. "He must have known something was going to happen. Look, I know you don't like to do it, but I need you to talk to Dad."

Allison scoffed, and Klaus said, "I can't just call Dad in the afterlife and be like, Dad, could you just...stop playing tennis with Hitler for a moment and take a quick call?"

"Since when?" Luther asked. "That's your thing."

"I'm not in the right...frame of mind." Klaus said.

"You're high?" Allison asked.

"Yeah, yeah." Klaus said. "I mean, how are you not, listening to this nonsense?"

"Well, sober up." Luther said. "This is important. Then there's the issue of the missing monocle."

"Who gives a shit about a stupid monocle?" Diego asked.

"Exactly." Luther stated. "It's worthless, so whoever took it, I think it was personal. Someone close to him, someone with a grudge."

"Where are you going with this?" Klaus asked.

"Oh, isn't it obvious, Klaus?" Diego asked. "He thinks one of us killed Dad."

There was a pause of silence while all of them stared at Luther for a moment.

"You do!" Klaus said.

"How could you think that?" Vanya asked.

"Great job, Luther." Diego said. "Way to lead."

"That's not what I'm saying." Luther said. Klaus stood up.

"You're crazy, man." he said. "You're crazy."

"Not cool, Luther." Barry stated, before he sped to his room.

Barry sat on his bed, a book open in front of him. Loud music began to fill the otherwise silent house. A few moments in, Barry couldn't help but roll his eyes. It was one that they'd often listened to as kids. But he couldn't help the small smile that came with the memories.

Children behave, that's what they say when we're together

And watch how you play

They don't understand

And so we're

Barry found his focus slipping from the book he'd been reading, slightly annoying him.

Running just as fast as we can, holding on to one another hands

Trying to get away into the night and then you put your arms around me

And we tumble to the ground and then you say

I think we're alone now,

There doesn't seem to be anyone around

I think we're alone now,

The beating of our hearts is the only sound

Mumbling a, "Forget it," Barry tossed his book onto the bed and stood up. Then he began to dance along to the damned song.

Look at the way we gotta hide what we're doin'

'Cause what would they say

If they ever knew

And so we're

Running just as fast as we can, holding on to one another hands

Trying to get away into the night and then you put your arms around me

And we tumble to the ground and then you say

I think we're alone now,

There doesn't seem to be anyone around

I think we're alone now,

The beating of our hearts is the only sound

I think we're alone now,

There doesn't seem to be anyone around

I think we're alone now,

The beating of our hearts is the only sound

Thunder shook the building, and the music stopped, the power flickering. Barry quickly moved towards the door. He was quick in making his way outside, followed shortly by his other siblings.

"What the hell is that?" Barry asked.

"Don't get too close." Allison warned.

"Yeah, no shit." Diego said.

"Looks like some sort of temporal anomaly. Either that or a miniature black hole. One of the two." Luther said.

"There's a pretty big difference there, Paul Bunyan." Diego stated.

"Out of the way!" Klaus yelled, as he ran between his brothers with a fire extinguisher. He threw it at the thing, whatever it was, and it disappeared.

"What is that gonna do?" Allison asked.

"I don't know." Klaus answered. "Do you have a better idea?"

The thing became louder, and brighter. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, everybody get behind me." Luther said.

"Yeah, get behind us." Diego said.

"I vote for running, come on!" Klaus said. The blue thing seemed to show something on the lines of a person, and after a minute, said person fell from the thing, which disappeared, and hit the ground nearly ten feet down. Barry winced at the thud that accompanied the body hitting the ground. The person began to stand up as the siblings began to step closer. It took Barry a moment, but he began to recognize the person.

"Does anyone else little Number Five, or is that just me?" Klaus asked.

"Holy shit." Barry said. Five looked down at himself, then said,

"Shit."


	2. Chapter 2

"What's the date? The exact date." Five asked when they were all in the kitchen.

"The 24th." Vanya answered.

"Of what?" Five asked as he grabbed a loaf of bread.

"March."

"Good."

"So, are we going to talk about what just happened?" Luther asked. Five didn't respond, so Luther stood up. "It's been seventeen years."

Five scoffed and said, "It's been a lot longer than that."

He teleported to the other side of Luther, grabbing a bag of marshmallows from the shelf.

"I haven't missed that." Luther said.

"Where'd you go?" Diego asked, and Five teleported back to the table.

"The future." he answered. "It's shit, by the way."

"Called it." Klaus said.

"I should've listened to the old man." Five said. "You know, jumping through space is one thing, jumping through time is a toss of the dice."

Five went into the fridge and grabbed a jar of peanut butter. He looked at Klaus and said, "Nice dress."

"Oh, well, danke." Klaus replied.

"Wait, how did you get back?" Vanya asked, to which Five replied,

"In the end, I had to project my consciousness forward into a suspended quantum state version of myself that exists across every possible instance of time."

"That makes no sense." Diego said.

"Well, it would if you were smarter." Five said, then began to spread peanut butter onto two slices of bread.

"How long were you there?" Luther asked.

"Forty five years, give or take." Five replied, and Luther sat back down.

"So, what are you saying? That you're fifty eight?" he asked.

"No, my consciousness is fifty eight." Five corrected. "Apparently my body is now thirteen again." Five put marshmallows on on of the slices of bread, and put the second slice on top, finishing his sandwich.

"Wait, how does that even work?" Vanya asked. Five took a bite of his sandwich.

He didn't answer the question, but instead said, "Delores kept saying the equations were off. Bet she's laughing now."

"Delores?" Vanya asked. Five grabbed a newspaper off of the counter.

"Hm. Guess I missed the funeral." he said.

"How did you know about that?" Luther asked.

"What part of the future do you not understand?" Five asked. "Heart failure, huh?"

"Yeah."

"No."

"Hm. Nice to see nothing's changed." Five said, setting the paper down. He started to walk towards the door, but Allison spoke up.

"Uh, that's it? That's all you have to say?"

"What else is there to say? The circle of life." Five replied without stopping.

"Well, that was interesting." Luther said.

Later that night, the six siblings, Grace, and Pogo gathered outside in the rain to hold a small service for their father. A few of them had bothered to bring umbrellas to shield them from the downpour, Barry not one of those.

"Did something happen?" Grace asked.

"Dad died." Allison answered. "Remember?"

"Oh, yes." Grace said. "Of course."

"Is Mom okay?" Allison asked.

"Yeah." Diego replied. "Yeah, she's fine. She just needs to rest. You know, recharge."

"Can we just get on with this?" Barry asked, feeling the rain grow heavier each passing second. He crossed his arms, regretting his decision to not bring an umbrella as he began shivering. Pogo looked at Luther, who held the jar of their father's ashes.

"Whenever you're ready, dear boy." he said. Luther took a couple of half steps forward and took off the top of the jar. He tipped it upside down, and the ashes fell straight to the ground and collected in a small pile there.

Luther looked up at the others and said, "Probably would have been better with some wind."

"Does anyone wish to speak?" Pogo asked. When nobody replied, he said, "Very well. In all regards, Sir Reginald Hargreeves made me what I am today. For that alone, I shall forever be in his debt. He was my master, and my friend, and I shall miss him very much. He leaves behind a complicated legacy-"

Diego cut Pogo off. "He was a monster." Klaus laughed, but Diego wasn't done. "He was a bad person and a worse father. The world's better off without him."

"Diego." Allison said in a scolding tone.

"My name is Number Two." Diego stated. "You know why? Because our father couldn't be bothered to give us actual names. He had Mom do it."

"Would anyone like something to eat?" Grace asked.

"No, it's okay, Mom." Vanya said.

"Oh, okay." Grace said.

"Look, you wanna pay your respects?" Diego asked. "Go ahead. But at least be honest about the kind of man he was."

"You should stop talking now." Luther threatened.

"You know, you of all people should be on my side, Number One." Diego saiad, turning towards his brother.

"I am warning you." Luther said.

"After everything he did to you? He had to ship you a million miles away." Diego said.

"Diego, stop talking."

"That's how much he couldn't stand the sight of you!"

Luther had enough, and swung a punch at Diego, who ducked. Barry turned and headed for the door. He had had enough of the funeral at this point, and he was now shivering so much he was worried he'd phase through the ground (not that it would be the first time that happened). He could hear fighting and yelling as he disappeared inside unnoticed while all the attention was on the fighting brothers. He made his way up the stairs as fast as he could, and glanced out the window in his room that looked out on the courtyard, in time to watch as Luther hit Ben's statue, causing it to fall down and break.

He scoffed and turned away from the window, before he began digging through his suitcase for dry clothes.

"Nietzsche once said, man is as a rope, stretched between the animal and the superhuman." Reginald said from the top of a winding staircase, down to where six of the seven Hargreeves children stood. A staircase of which they were about to run up. "A rope over an abyss. It is a dangerous crossing, a dangerous looking back, a dangerous trembling and halting."

Once he finished speaking, Vanya blew the whistle, sending the six into action. Barry began to run up the stairs, but not at his fastest for fear of tripping.

"As much as you must strive for individual greatness, and strive you must, for it won't come to you of its own accord, you must also remember that there is no individual stronger than the collective." Reginald said.

Five was suddenly in front of him, startling him and causing him to trip.

"Get back up, Eight." Reginald said. Ignoring the ache that had formed on his knee where he had hit it, he got back to his feet and ran faster. He made it to the top of the stairs, thankfully without tripping again. He watched from the top as the other five continued up. Klaus looked up.

"It's not fair, he has super-speed." he complained. Barry stuck his tongue out at his brother, only encouraging the other to move faster as he felt the need to slap his brother.

Tears rolled down thirteen year old Barry's face as he got his first ever tattoo- a decision he didn't even get to make for himself. It was an umbrella with a circle around it. All four of his brothers and Allison were getting it too. He tried not to move while the needle pierced his skin over and over again, but it was hard.

It was over after what felt like an eternity, which in reality was only a few minutes, but the sting remained hours later. Thanks to speed healing, by the morning the pain was completely gone, but the damage was done. Then, he decided he never wanted to get a tattoo ever again.

"The ties that bind you together make you stronger than you are alone." Reginald had told them. "They will make you impervious to the pain and hardship the world will thrust upon you. And believe me when I tell you, life will be hard. It will be painful. We can accomplish anything when we accept responsibility together. this is what creates trust. Together you will stand against the reign of evil.

Down in the kitchen, Barry was cursing his father's hate for caffeine. He still felt cold from the funeral, and was looking for something decent and warm to drink. He'd even settle for tea, but there was none of that. Nothing for him to make hot chocolate with.

So he went the opposite direction and opened the freezer, and found a carton of ice cream, buried deep in the back, that had probably been there for a long time. He checked it for and expiration, and found he was right. It was over three years past the date. With a sigh he threw it away. It was late, Vanya, Diego, and Klaus had already left. Five was on a quest for coffee. Barry wasn't in need of it bad enough to hunt for it. Allison had long since vanished into her bedroom. Barry had waited for the kitchen to vacate, not in a particular mood to socialize with any of his siblings.

All of it adding up to him regretting to spend the night in his old home. He could've been alone in his own apartment, having a hot cup of coffee, catching up on the latest episode of game of thrones. But instead he was here, searching for something- anything that looked decent enough to eat.

Noticing the bread and peanut butter had been left out by Five earlier, he just had a peanut butter sandwich and a glass of water. Nothing fancy, but in that moment, he couldn't care less.


End file.
